Bundeli ( Devanagari: बुन्देली or बुंदेली; or Bundelkhandi) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lyin ...

region of central India. It belongs to the Central Indo-Ayran languages and is part of the Western Hindi subgroup.

Classification

A descendant of the

Sauraseni Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though ...

Apabhramsha language, Bundeli was classified under Western Hindi by

George Abraham Grierson Sir George Abraham Grierson (7 January 1851 – 9 March 1941) was an Irish administrator and linguist in British India. He worked in the Indian Civil Service but an interest in philology and linguistics led him to pursue studies in the languag ...

in his Linguistic Survey of India. Bundeli is also closely related to

Braj Bhasha The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant ...

, which was the foremost literary language in north-central India until the nineteenth century. Like many other Indo-Aryan languages, Bundeli has often been subject to a designation as a dialect, instead of a language. Furthermore, as is the case with other Hindi languages, Bundeli speakers have been conflated with those of

Standard Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

in censuses. Grierson divided Bundeli into four dialect groups: * Standard Bundeli * Northeast Bundeli (closely related to Bagheli) * Northwest Bundeli (similar to

) * South Bundeli

Geographical distribution

The

region comprises regions of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Bundeli is spoken in the

Banda Banda may refer to: People *Banda (surname) *Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician *Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor *Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician *Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh warr ...

, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Datia,

Chhatarpur Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhatarpur District. Chhatarpur is a city and a municipality in Chhatarpur district in the state of ...

Panna Panna can refer to: * Paññā is Pali for "wisdom"; the Sanskrit version is ''Prajñā'' Food * Aam panna, an Indian drink made from mangoes * Panna cotta ("cooked cream"), an Italian dessert * Panna (water), an Italian bottled water Places * ...

, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Damoh, Niwari districts.

History

Early examples of Bundelkhandi literature are the verses of the

Alha-Khand The term ''Alha Khand'' is used to refer to poetic works in Hindi which consists of a number of ballads describing the brave acts of two 12th century Banaphar heroes, Alha and Udal, generals working for king Paramardi-Deva (Parmal) of Mahob ...

epic. It is still preserved by bards in the Banaphari region. The epic is about heroes who lived in the 12th century CE. Formal literary works in Bundeli dates from the reign of Emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

. Notable figures are the poet

Kesab Das Keshavdas Mishra (1555–1617), usually known by the mononym Keshavdas or Keshavadasa, was a Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet, best known for his ''Rasik Priya'', a pioneering work of the ''riti kaal'' (procedure period) of Hindi literature. Li ...

of the 16th century, while Padmakar Bhatt and Prajnes wrote several works during the 19th century. Prannath and Lal Kabi, produced many works in Bundeli language at the court of Chhatrasal of Panna.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * *Bundelkhand NEW
Learn Bundelkhandi on Bundelkhanddarshan.com

www.bundelkhand.com

{{Authority control Hindi languages Languages of India Languages of Madhya Pradesh Languages of Uttar Pradesh Bundelkhand